When they fall into the wrong hands and are used in the wrong way, painkillers and other medications became a dangerous problem, he told county commissioners this week as he asked for support in combating a growing concern.

“It sounds like a big problem, and I submit to you that it is a big problem,” he said.

Buck made a presentation during the Jan. 14 meeting of the Board of Commissioners about the abuse of prescription drugs and trends seen locally and beyond. Buck said approximately half of all the drug cases seen by the sheriff’s office involve the illegal possession and/or sale and delivery of prescription drugs.

He said the office is working hard to combat the diversion of prescription drugs to the wrong use and to reduce the number of deaths that result each year from the abuse and overdose of prescription medication.

Buck said that between 2002 and 2011, Carteret County had 114 deaths due to unintentional poisoning.

The sheriff’s office was awarded a grant from the Governor’s Crime Commission for 2012-2013 for funding for an additional investigator to focus on prescription drug diversion.

Now halfway through that grant year, Buck was back to ask for the county’s approval to reapply for the grant to continue to finance the position.

Commissioners gave their unanimous support to the grant application, which requires a 25-percent match of $12,931. Buck said the match will be covered with resources from state drug funds.

Tony Cummings was hired as investigator through the grant program.

Since being elected sheriff, Buck has initiated efforts such as the Pills Can Kill prescription drug collection events held in the county. The October event collected from the public more than 139,000 dosage units of medication, which was safely secured and destroyed.

He also has a drop box in the sheriff’s office lobby that the public can use at any time and works with the medical community and other law enforcement agencies on education programs.

A grant assisted in the creation of “Doctor Shopping is a Crime” posters to be provided to physicians and pharmacies in the county.

Buck said there is still work to be done, but progress is being made.

“It took us a while to get here. It’s not going to happen overnight but we’re working hard,” he said.

The next education event is a Parents Education Night to be held Jan. 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the West Carteret High School Auditorium.